Newington Zoning Board Says Sorry, But Church Sign Not Allowed

CHRISTOPHER HOFFMANSpecial to The Courant

Newington zoning board tells church it's sorry, but sign not allowed under rules

NEWINGTON — Zoning commission members apologized to a local church Wednesday, saying the church had received incorrect information from a town official that caused it to submit an unacceptable sign design.

"He gave you the wrong information," member Frank Aieta said. "I'm sorry he did that."

At issue was a request by The Gospel Hall to erect an electronic sign on its property at 345 Cedar St. Former Zoning Enforcement Officer Arthur Hanke last year advised sign designer Lawrin Rosen of ARTfx that electronic signs are allowed as long as their message is static instead of streaming, Rosen said.

Rosen designed an 8-foot-by-18-inch, static electronic sign to display information on the weekly sermon. Church members raised $22,000 to pay for the sign, he said.

In the meantime, Hanke retired and when Rosen met with his successor, he learned that the sign violated the town's zoning rules.

"I was more than surprised," Rosen told the commission Wednesday during a public hearing. "I was actually in shock."

Rosen urged the commission to reconsider, saying that non-digital message signs are ugly, require too much maintenance and quickly become dirty eyesores.

"I challenge you to find a nice one," he said. "I'm really into nice-looking signs. That's what my company is all about."

But zoning board members said that the commission has a long history of prohibiting electronic signs. Exceptions in town are the result of mistakes or, in the case of the high school and the Veterans Administration hospital, lack of zoning board jurisdiction, they said.

Approving the church's design would open the commission to a legal challenge, they said.

"This is not about the sign," commission member Bob Serra Sr. said. "It's a beautiful sign. This would set a precedent and a bad precedent. I think we'd be opening up a can of worms."

Paul Tornaquindice, a Gospel Hall elder, said the church would comply with whatever the commission required.

"I think it's great that the town decides what they want to do," he said.